Closed loop, self-sustaining, self-sufficient, zero-waste and low impact. For anyone seeking an ecologically minded lifestyle, this type of living is certainly one of the biggest and broadest goals. The questions and struggles for those seeking to live in a sustainable way often center around how to balance modern living with low-impact, localized lifestyles.

Here is one example of a self-sufficient, off-grid capable neighborhood that is currently in development. ReGen Village, a cluster of 25 homes set in the Amsterdam suburb of Almere. This community is being built with indoor and outdoor home gardens and a neighborhood vertical farm set to provide for an estimated half of the development’s food needs. It has been designed to produce its own energy and feed extra energy into the surrounding local grid and handle its own waste in a closed loop system.

Not all neighborhood or homestead projects have the ability to start on this scale, but this project does provide hope and inspiration that future development can move towards more sustainable and localized methods and outcomes. Check out more details on the design and development of ReGen Village here and watch the video below.